SD Officers Cleared in 2022 City Heights Shooting

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said April 17 that three San Diego police officers will not face criminal charges for the December 8, 2022 shooting death of John Ray Romero in City Heights. (oag.ca.gov) The state report names the officers as Gregory Bergman, Michael Thornton and Jonathan Estrada, and identifies Romero as a 58-year-old man killed near the 4000 block of 42nd Street. (sdsheriff.gov, nbcsandiego.com) According to the Department of Justice, officers were first sent just before 1 p.m. to Central Avenue after a report that Romero was pointing a handgun at his own head, then found him again after he rode away on a bicycle. (oag.ca.gov, nbcsandiego.com) The report says Romero kept the gun pointed at himself, ignored orders to drop it, and told officers to shoot him. One officer fired three bean bag rounds before Romero moved behind a parked car. (oag.ca.gov, nbcsandiego.com) State investigators said Romero then began raising what officers believed was a real handgun, and the three officers opened fire. Romero was hit twice and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report. (nbcsandiego.com) Investigators later determined the weapon was an airsoft gun with no markings showing it was not a real handgun. That detail put the case under Assembly Bill 1506, the 2020 California law that requires the state Department of Justice to investigate fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians. (oag.ca.gov, abc10.com) The legal question was not whether the gun was fake in hindsight, but whether prosecutors could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers did not act in lawful self-defense or defense of others. The Department of Justice said it could not meet that standard. (oag.ca.gov) The same report did not fully endorse the police response. State investigators issued three policy recommendations, including more San Diego Police Department training on command and communication when multiple units respond to armed suicidal people. (oag.ca.gov) The case also fits a category police trainers call “suicide by cop,” when a suicidal person tries to force officers to use deadly force by brandishing a real or replica weapon. The Department of Justice report says Romero repeatedly urged officers to shoot him. (policeforum.org, oag.ca.gov) The criminal case is now closed at the state level, but the report leaves San Diego with two findings at once: prosecutors saw no basis for charges, and state investigators still called for changes in how officers handle armed mental health crises. (oag.ca.gov)